The seven people who will pick the replacement for Eric Witherspoon have already heard from more than 2,000 others.

Now, the District 202 Board of Education will review those survey results in a special open meeting Thursday evening, in the next step towards hiring a new superintendent for Evanston Township High School.

Witherspoon is retiring on June 30, following 16 years at the helm of the school.

The 2,000-plus survey responses, along with comments from nearly 100 focus group participants, dealt with issues facing the new superintendent, along with qualities and traits that person should have.

In a website statement, the district says the public feedback witll be used to develop a “detailed superintendent profile.”

That profile “will clearly articulate what the ETHS community and school board are looking for in our next superintendent,” and will also be used to help assess any potential candidates.

ETHS says the candidate identification process will begin in mid-March – April, with finalists presented to the community in early/mid-May for a live-streamed question and answer session.

Some time after that, the new superintendent will be named by the board, and will take over the job on July 1, one day after Witherspoon steps down.

The Thursday’s special meeting is at 6 p.m. at ETHS, and will also be shown on the ETHS Wildkits YouTube Live Stream channel.

Jeff Hirsh joined the Evanston Now reporting team in 2020 after a 40-year award-winning career as a broadcast journalist in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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